I have an 06 TL auto transmission with 140k on it. Just the other day while decelerating the tranny slipped in and out of gear a couple times and when I tried to accelerate again the engine just rev'd. Took my foot off the gas and it went back in gear. It happened a couple times over 5 minutes. I shut the car down for 10 seconds and restarted it. Drove another 30 minutes without any issue and it hasn't happened again since then. No other signs of issues either like hard or delayed shifting.

Been reading through all the posts and looks like everyone recommends changing out the 3rd & 4th gear pressure switches and doing a few 1x3s with Redline giving some time between drain and fills. Couple questions I came up with I was hoping you guys could answer before I go aheads with this.

1) Part numbers for the switches can be either the 28600-p7w-003 or 28600-RAY-003 variety?
2) Which Redline oil should we be using. The D4 or the Type F?
3) Is the tranny at the point where it's even too late to try this?

Thanks a lot

 

If you are looking for performance use a 66/33 ratio of Type-F and D4, else just use D4.

I dont know about part numbers but just ask your parts department for the transmission oil pressure switches, they should be able to find them.

 

Alternative method.

1. Replace the external trans filter.

2. Do a 100% ATF exchange using dw1 or vavoline max life full synthetic (2 gallons). Do this as 1 continuous trans service. To purge the old fluild just idle the car for 80 seconds but shifting into each gear for 10 seconds to purge most if not all the passage ways.

3. Add 1 to 2 doses of XADO AT EX120.

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When the car dropped out of gear, did the D light just completely go away? Or was the D light blinking/flashing?

I was having issues with the car dropping out of gear while driving. D light would disappear. Issue was with the gear/neutral position sensor.

If the car is truly slipping between gears, then it may be too late, but I would do the following the help:

• Do a full 3x3 tranny fluid drain and refill.
• Replace the filter on the top of the transmission. These can actually break and the plastic from the filter can clog the transmission cooling lines, causing the trans to overheat.
• Replace the 3rd and 4th gear pressure switches.
• Inspect all transmission mounts. There are 3, two on bottom (front and back) and one on top. I had the bottom, rear mount tear causing jerking from first to second.
• Take apart your gear position sensor and sand the contact points on the spring loaded lever portion of the sensor. This was recommended to me by a very knowledgeable transmission builder in my city.

Based on your description, if you were actually driving and had your foot on accelerator when this happened, it sounds like the gear position sensor. Take a look at this thread: https://acurazine.com/forums/third-g...switch-892223/


Heat is primarily what kills these transmissions. The pressure switches start to get out of spec causing the PSI range that they apply pressure to become more narrow. This means your clutch packs are rubbing against each other for longer, causing excessive heat build up, wearing the clutch packs out at an accelerated rate. This issue, combined with diminishing abrasives in the aging transmission fluid, will causing the 3rd and 4th gear slipping many people have. I do a 1x3 drain and refill of my transmission fluid every oil change. Overkill, sure, but the preventative cost ($20) vs. a rebuild ($2700), is enough to justify it. It only takes about 15min extra to do with the oil change, so about 30-45min total for both, depending how quick I am that day.

Let me know if you have any questions.

 

Not to thread jack here, but what about when you come to a stop, say you are cruising at 40mph and come to a complete stop, do you feel the car jerks or slows down with 3rd gear? I feel this on my cousins TL, Does this mean the clutch slipping or need to change the switches? Only happen when transmission is downshifting and not upshifts.

 

Thanks for the replies guys. This only happened when my foot was off the gas and the car was decelerating. i havent noticed anything while accelerating or maintaining speed. The D light didn't flash and no other warning lights came on.

Ive been changing my fluid every 10k miles for the past few years since that's about all I put on it every 12 months. All the fluid is pretty fresh and looked really clean when I checked it again today.

Planning on doing the sensors and another drain and fill tomorrow. If I'm not looking for performance gains is there any advantage of going with D4 over oem fluid?

 

It's a lot - but you should read all of this. https://acurazine.com/forums/third-g...ng-atf-834299/

 

If it's dropping out of gear, check the thread I linked that talks about the gear/neutral position sensor. I was having the same issue intermittently. Next time this happens, pay close attention to the D light on the dash. You can either repair it by sanding down the spring loaded terminals in the part or replace it for about $80. I had a transmission rebuilder tell me he has never replaced one of these and he has rebuilt hundreds of these transmissions.

 

Thanks everyone for the replies. I replaced the 3rd & 4th gear switch today and took the car out for a test drive. Unfortunately things are getting worse. Now when trying to accelerate on the highway the engine revs without engaging and when i take my foot off the gas the car starts to buck in and out of gear before finally engaging again. After getting off the highway it started acting up again coming off the light getting into second gear this time. Started revving up and down and took a couple seconds to engage.

Throughout all of this the D light never flashed or went out and I never received any other error/warning lights. The odd thing is after shutting off the car for a few seconds and restarting it I made it home the rest of the way without any problems. Checked the fluid again and still nice a red w/ no burning. Don't understand why restarting the car would "solve" the problem. Think at this point I'm going to have to take it to a local transmission shop and have them look at it.

 

Your transmission needs rebuilt or have the shop put an Av6 in it. Those are from the 06-07 Accord.

 

The last thing I would try is disassembling the gear position sensor in the thread I linked earlier. I don't believe it will solve your issue, but it is a free fix. Take the sensor apart and sand the terminals on the lever part. Those terminals are spring loaded. Since they are copper, grooves start to wear into them with age and will cause the sensor to misread what gear the car is in, hence why the D light will go away. Unfortunately, I don't think this will fix your issue, but it's worth a try since it is free and takes about 30 min.

What is most likely happening is your clutch packs are slipping. When you were changing your fluid, did it smell burnt at all?

Next time the car does this, put it into Neutral and back into Drive. See if that will help solve the issue.

 

If I was you I would spend the $30 and try the XADO AT EX120.

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Spend that 30 bucks and buy yourself 3x Redline D4 trans fluid.
That fluid is a bit thicker than OEM DW1 and helped me when my trans was dying. Although I only drove 4 or 5 miles a day.
So while this may not have solved my problem. It at least helped me move along ( I would drive longer distances on the weekend ) and helped extend whatever life it had.

When I finally got the rebuilt done. I had no clutch material left and the steels were blue.

Also, do you hear a whine from the bell housing of your transmission?

 

No whining or grinding noises and no burning smell when I changed the fluid, it actually looked in good shape. I'll have to try dropping it into neutral and then back in gear to see if that helps. So far shutting the car off and restarting it seems to be working though if I'm on the highway it can take some time before I have a chance to do that.

Spoke to Acura today and the service guy said he's seen a few of our 3rd gen TL's have this issue when the AC drain backs up and it starts leaking water, said he thinks it could be computer related. I also just noticed a very slight oil leak coming from the oil pan around the gasket that wasn't there when I changed my oil a couple months ago. Acura said they'd take a look at the transmission and do a full inspection on the car for $125. Thinking of starting there to diagnose the trans issue and see where the oil is actually coming from before making a decision about fixing the trans.

 

Tonight I noticed a whining started that increases in frequency as I accelerate. It makes the noise in park and neutral as well. Getting it looked at tomorrow morning but now I'm pretty sure it's toast and not computer related.

 

I missed responding to this message Jeff. If you happen to see this, I was having similar issues with harsh downshifting where it felt like the car was jerking hard. I was inspecting my tranny mounts and found my lower, rear mount was torn in half. Replaced it and haven't noticed any issues with rough downshifts since. I was also having some jerking from 1st to second at low speeds that the rear, lower mount also fixed.

Pressure switches will never hurt to replace. If the car is over 100k miles, I'd say it's definitely worth doing. If you aren't sure of the last tranny fluid change, then do a full 3x3 as well. Between the pressure switches, 3x3 fluid change, and replacing the rear, lower tranny mount and upper tranny mount, my cars shifts feel very crisp. There are very few occasions where the shifting feels rough or sloppy. Usually it's right after startup while the fluid is warming up where the shifts are a little more harsh and noticeable, but that's expected.

 

That whine is your torque converter being starved of fluid. There's friction material in there and restricting the flow of ATF / overheating. Im no where near an expert in automatic transmissions but for a year I did research on these transmissions and they just seem prone to failure no matter what preventative maintenance is done.
During my symptoms I never changed the pressure switches and only drained and filled with Redline D4 every other oil change.

Performing a 3x3 drain on an already slipping transmission may cause more problems than you think. The current fluid most likely has enough friction material to grip the clutches. Once that element is removed you may experience even more slippage.
I forgot what made me use D4 but i know its a thicker fluid and more resilient to heat which I attribute to prolonging the life. Kept it "alive" for about 1 year. However, the shuttering was still present and the whine appeared about 2-3 weeks before it finally crapped out.

Hard shifting is inevitable. The pressure switches do play a role in shift quality but, with signs of slippage and TC whine. It's a bigger problem than just replacing switches.
When I had the trans rebuilt the mechanic tested the pressure switches and were all within spec. So in my opinion it didnt need to be replaced.

and through out all of this. I never had the CEL come on.

 

I don't want to be a bummer on this but my transmission just did that but actually kicked the bucket. I just replaced it with a used one. however it was hard shifting, etc etc, I just got the car about 2 months ago now.... 168k km. I did a full service on the trans right after i got it, the filter and fluid and after about ~500km I noticed torque converter not locking up, on a trip it threw the code, and then after that, boom went to down shift to pass on highway and she was free revving,